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Episode 911 - 7 Chefs Compete
The eleventh episode of Season 9 of Hell’s Kitchen aired on FOX on August 22, 2011, airing as a double feature alongside the tenth episode. On that episode, the chefs visited the grand prize restaurant, one chef became the last person standing of their own team at service, and a tearful elimination of an early front runner occurred. Intro During the episode recap, Carrie received the coat hanging and portrait burning sequence for the first time since her elimination. Continuing from the previous episode, Elise took off her jacket as Ramsay asked her to, with the latter feeling that she was not ready for BLT Steak. However, Ramsay then asked everybody to take off their jackets, and to their shock, announced that Hell’s Kitchen was closed as he was not convinced they each had the drive to become the head chef of BLT steak. In order to spark inspiration, he was flying them all to New York to see the prized restaurant first hand. While being dismissed to pack up, Tommy proclaimed that he would keep his good eye on the prize. Restaurant visit The next day, the chefs flew from Los Angeles to New York City, and met with Raheem Vaziralli, who gave them a tasting tour of all of New York’s restaurants. Their first stop was a pizzeria, with Paul calling the clam pizza delicious. The next two restaurants featured Chinese and French cuisines, and in the latter, Natalie tried to pace herself on the food. After eating at different restaurants, which featured Greek, Mexican, Jamaican, and Indian, everybody was full, and eventually made it to BLT Steak. Jina Yurgosky introduced herself to the chefs, before giving them a tour of the dining room, while chef Cliff Crooks gave them a tour of the kitchen. All of that made Natalie more determined to win that season, while Paul imagined himself working in BLT Steak and hoped next time he stepped into the restaurant in whites, and Elizabeth was ready to go all the way. Team challenge Returning to Hell’s Kitchen, the chefs got back into their jackets and met Ramsay in the dining room. Now feeling they were more motivated and inspired than before, Ramsay announced that for their next challenge, each of them would be cooking one of the seven ethnic cuisines they had back in New York, frustrating Elise as she was not paying attention to the techniques. Revealing a large slots machine, Ramsay explained that one chef would pull a lever, and the five slots would reveal what protein, starch, fruit, and two vegetables they would be cooking with. In addition, a coin would pop out revealing what theme they would be cooking with. Natalie went up first and got pork, corn, potatoes, kumquat, and green beans, while her country was Jamaica. Jennifer received salmon, noodles, orange, and asparagus, and her country was Greece. Will got scallops, polenta, mango, broccoli and asparagus, and his country was Italy, Elizabeth got New York striploin and corn, and her country was Mexico. Tommy got chicken, carrots, and mango , and his country was India, and Elise got ahi tuna, carrots, beans, and kumquat, and her country was China. Finally, Paul got filet, eggplant, polenta, grapefruit, and kale, and his country was France. The chefs had 45 minutes to cook their dishes, but Elise was not confident as she never made Chinese food until that day. In the blue kitchen, Natalie decided to make a jerk dish, but started sneezing due to the peppers. Eventually, both teams got their dishes cooked and plated on time. After, Ramsay said that because he was looking for a leader in all of them, he introduced a brand-new challenge called the King of the Hill Challenge, revealing a chair on an elevated platform. Ramsay would taste each dish individually, and the person left on the chair at the end would win it for their team. Tommy was up first and presented his roasted chicken with mango curry. While Ramsay felt that the presentation was not Indian, he praised the sauce for having the right amount of heat, and Tommy was the first person to sit in the chair. After, Elizabeth’s New York striploin with chorizo and cotija cheese, while having an overcooked steak, tasted better than it looked, and she managed to dethrone Tommy. Then, Natalie presented her pork with habanero guava paste, but Ramsay felt it was too spicy to the point of coughing in reaction, and she did not dethrone Elizabeth, much to her disappointment. After, Paul’s French inspired filet was praised for a perfectly cooked meat and having the smart idea of mixing the grapefruit into the hollandaise sauce, therefore taking the chair from Elizabeth. However, Elise’s ahi tuna with soy sauce was deemed nice, and she dethroned Paul. Then, Will’s prosciutto wrapped scallops seared in olive oil and prosciutto fat was deemed delicious, and he dethroned Elise as it was the best dish so far. The final person up was Jennifer, and she presented her pan seared salmon with olives and feta cheese. The dish was praised for a perfectly cooked salmon and tasting delicious. After a tough decision, Ramsay deemed Jennifer’s the best, she dethroned Will, and the red team won the challenge. Reward The red team was rewarded with a day at Venice beach, with a surprise waiting for them. During the reward, the women saw James inside a giant zorb bubble, and while none of the red team wanted to do it, Elise volunteered to go first. Eventually, Elizabeth and Jennifer gave their turns a go, and they all had fun. Punishment The blue team was punished by prepping both kitchens for that night’s dinner service, and during the punishment, Will was pissed that it was the fourth time in a row they had to do that. Later, Tommy asked Will a prep question, but Natalie called him dumb in response when he tried to open a bottle with a knife. Before service Later that day, the red team came back from their reward, and later that night, both teams were finishing up their prep work. Tommy told Elise that while he would unwrap her Wellingtons, she would have to score them herself, although she complained how bad a job he did prepping them. After, Ramsay asked James to open Hell’s Kitchen. Dinner Service The red team received their first order, and Ramsay hoped it would be their comeback night after seeing New York. While Elizabeth felt more determined than ever, Elise did not respond to Jennifer’s requests. In the blue kitchen, Natalie hoped to bounce back after some poor performances, but sent up inconsistent cooked scallops, with Tommy calling it a major mistake to make, and Ramsay ordered her to get a grip. In the red kitchen, Elizabeth was pushing out scallops, but soon got confused on orders and slowed down, leading Ramsay to order Elise to help the former out. With Elise’s help, Elizabeth’s scallops were accepted, and in the blue kitchen, the blue team finished appetizers and were now onto entrées. However, Sous Chef Scott sternly reminded Tommy to put the onion rings on paper towel when they are out of the fryer, even threatening to beat him up with a ring. While Tommy claimed he could cook onion rings, he sent up a soggy serving, but despite that, the blue team were continuing to push entrées out at a steady pace. One hour into dinner service, both teams have served half of their customers, but on the red team’s next order, Elizabeth sent up dry sea bass with a burnt bottom. That dismayed Elizabeth as she wanted to be confident that night, and Ramsay called her frazzled as she struggled to call out times. After, Ramsay sent her to the pantry room, and managed to calm her down despite her problems. However, Elise now saw Elizabeth as the weakest on the red team, but then, the former sent up improperly scored Wellingtons that Ramsay accused of being chewed on. After, Ramsay ordered Elise to bring up her tray of Wellingtons to the front, and he discovered she scored them too deep, which led them to the pastry breaking apart. However, Elise argued that Tommy scored the first tray, but when Ramsay brought her to the blue kitchen to tell him, Tommy reminded her that he did not score them, with footage from earlier proving he was in the right. After, Paul was pissed that Elise tried to blame the blue team for their punishment, and told her to man up, while Ramsay told Elise that she cannot take responsibility, before asking if she would blame Carrie, Krupa, or Jamie that time as all three of them were gone. While the red diners were left without food, one of the blue diners told James that her sea bass was too dry. When the dish was sent back, Natalie admitted that she did not know what she was doing, with a bitter Ramsay agreeing with her. Then, James came back with three more overcooked sea bass from blue diners, but when Natalie claimed that she could cook fish, Ramsay accused her of calling the customers liars. While Natalie apologized to her teammates, Will told her to get her head in the game. In the red kitchen, Elizabeth and Elise argued about timings on their respective dishes, much to Jennifer’s annoyance as the former could not listen and the latter was frazzled. Eventually, Elizabeth sent up a raw sea bass, and when she complained on how it felt she cooked it for 10 minutes, Ramsay told her to stop being a wimp. After, Elise sent up an already sliced New York striploin back into the oven, and when she sent it up, it was overcooked and dry. That was the final straw for Ramsay, and after he called Elise out for being back in night one, and Elizabeth for giving up, he kicked the two women out of the kitchen. On their way out, Elise angrily kicked a garbage bin down, but Ramsay ordered her to pick it up. That left Jennifer as the lone red chef left, but with help from Sous Chef Andi and Ramsay, she felt honored on working with the latter. Eventually, both teams got their dishes out with no more problems. Post-mortem When both teams were lined up, a pissed Ramsay announced that unless he received a perfect service, he would not be naming a winning team from now on. Both teams were named joint-losers, and Ramsay asked them to nominate one each. During deliberation, a disappointed Natalie knew that it could be her last night in the competition, and tearfully admitted to the blue team that she was the nominee. However, the blue team comforted her, with Paul hoping for Elise to go home instead for being cancerous as Tommy was pissed of the latter blaming him for something he did not do. On the red side, Jennifer struggled to base her vote on that night, being Elizabeth, or on overall, being Elise. Despite knowing she had a poor night, Elizabeth argued her overall performance was better than Elise’s. However, Elise argued how Elizabeth was frazzled the entire night, and challenged the red team to nominate her. Elimination Will announced Natalie as the blue team’s nominee, and Jennifer announced Elise as the red team’s nominee. During their pleas, Natalie knew she was a talented chef and that she worked her ass off to get to the competition, but Ramsay reminded her that it was her third nomination overall, and that there was nowhere left to hide anymore. Then, Ramsay reminded Elise how she blamed Tommy for her poor scoring, and when he asked her when she would start taking responsibility, she promised at that moment, and that she did not want to go home. In the end, Ramsay eliminated Natalie for her poor performance on fish and her overall downward performances, but before leaving, praised her for her energy and passion, even urging her not to stop. During her exit interview, Natalie received a retrospective montage. After Natalie left, Ramsay reminded the remaining chefs how he saw glimpses of brilliance, but now wanted to see that level fully realized. While being dismissed, Jennifer felt that Elise should have gone home instead, before knowing that the latter would throw her and Elizabeth under the bus the next day, Will knew that the blaming game was over with both team having three chefs each, while Elise thanked Ramsay for giving her another chance. Ramsay's comment: "Natalie was lucky enough to get to see BLT Steak in New York. She may get to see it again... as a customer." Category:Season 9 Category:Episodes